You’re all going to be mad at me for asking this, because the answer is probably going to be “any one of about 10 million wines,” but it’s worth a shot.
A while back a local wine shop had a German-only tasting. One of their wines totally blew me away (and unfortunately, I was too broke at the time to buy a bottle), and I’ve since lost my notes. I asked at the wine shop last weekend (I’m not broke this week knock on wood) and they didn’t remember.
It was a German wine, white, probably a Reisling. It was in a brown bottle, but the wine was so white it was almost as clear as water. The taste was sweet, but not as sweet as a dessert wine. But here’s the kicker: it had an exceptionally strong mineral taste - like I was drinking the ground itself, only in a good way. It was freaking delicious, and not very expensive (less than $25, IIRC).
Does this ring any kind of a bell, to anybody?
Thanks!
Hey Homie, it probably won’t be 10 million possibilities, but it will be quite a few. The very light color is common in younger Rieslings, particularly those at lower harvested sugar levels, e.g. non-Pradikat, Kabinett, and occasionally Spatlese. Other varieties of German white wine I’ve had (Sylvaner, Rieslaner, Weissburgunder) are usually darker in color than Riesling, ranging from straw colored to deep yellow/brass. So it sounds like your wine was probably Riesling.
The brown bottle indicates that the wine wasn’t from the Mosel-Saar-Ruwer (MSR) region, which uses green glassed bottles. Do you remember if the bottle was long and narrow or short and very stubby? Most German wines are bottled in very long, narrow bottles, longer than either Bordeaux or Burgundy bottles. Finally many fine German Rieslings have that mineral character that you noted, so that doesn’t narrow the field much, unfortunately.
Many producers have wines less than $25, (though nowhere near as many as only five years ago, sadly). Kabinett and non-Pradikat wines are generally less expensive, and only comparatively few producers will have those wines priced above $25. So, my guess is that you had a 2006 or 2007 Kabinett Riesling, from either the Rheingau, Rhinehessen, Pfalz or MittelRhein. The mineral character makes me think of the Rheingau or Pfalz more than the other two. I’ve no idea how to be more specific than that; there are over a hundred choices that fit that description
My advice is to go back to the wine shop, or another that has a large German selection, and go up and down the aisles and see if any of the producers’ labels look familiar. German labels can be very distinctive, and downright gaudy. It’s likely you’ll recognize the producer, if not the actual wine you had that day. Failing that, I’d ask the salesperson for a similar wine. They may not be able to remember the wine they poured for you that day, but they should be able to find a young, non-MSR Kabinett with mineral character and for less than $25.
Good luck!
Thanks, GG.
Can you please review for me what the terms Kabinett, Spatlese, Auslese, etc. mean? I know they corrolate roughly to dry, off-dry, etc., but I’ve forgotten the specifics.
Wiki has much fuller definitions that what I’ll be providing.
Briefly, the terms, “kabinett”, “spatlese” and “auslese” are terms in the German system for ranking the level of sugar in the grape when harvested. (umlauts omitted) The terms also serve as a good shorthand for the level of sweetness in the finished wine. Kabinett is going to usually be ripe, somewhat sweet, but not late-harvest; Spatlese will usually be late-harvested and quite sweet, but not have any botrytis; and Auslese will be both late harvest and have botrytized character (intensely honeyed, a bit bitter). Many people will recommend Auslese for dessert, but I like them also to match with really rich curry dishes. As many producers will “declassify” grapes that don’t meet their quality standards for a given sugar level, frequently one can find late-harvest character in a Kabinett or botrytis in a Spatlese.
There are also “trocken” (dry) and “halb-trocken” (off dry) wines at the kabinett, spatlese, and auslese harvest level. In those wines, a larger portion of the must sugar is allowed to be converted to alcohol. Consequently, the alcohol levels, and perceived acidity is higher in these wines than in “ordinary” table Rieslings. An auslese trocken I once tried was pushing 15% alcohol, and tasted a lot like rocket fuel. Trocken and halb-trocken wines are much more popular in Germany than the U.S., but I’ve seen a few on shelves here.
You may also find “Erstes Gewachs” (Rheingau) / “Grosses Gewachs” (everywhere else) designated dry wines from very specific, high-end sites. This is a very new designation and I’ve not managed to try any yet. All of the ones in my market are upwards of $45.
There are also many tasty wines that don’t enter the Pradikatswein system. They will not have a designation of kabinett, etc, but will have a “QbA” abbreviation somewhere on the label. These are often tasty, uncomplicated and inexpensive.